North America (Geographic Keyword)
2,326-2,350 (3,602 Records)
The "Carousel City" label for the Binghamton area stems from market "re-branding" for heritage tourism. The carousels were a gift from George F. Johnson, a welfare capitalist whose factories dominated the landscape until they were shuttered in the 20th century. They represent a material remnant of a prosperous, idealized past in a de-industrialized landscape. Archaeological research contests this idealized vision of the past and reveals the role of capitalist processes of creative destruction in...
"Not By Angels": Religious Place-Making in the Sonoran Desert (2015)
When the archaeological traces of migrant religion are encountered in the Sonoran Desert by journalists, humanitarian workers, and social scientists, they are often interpreted as static containers of human belief. Previous discussions of this type of material culture have highlighted the perpetuation of colonial discourses that continue to demarcate and enforce the borders of both religious and migration studies, including the privileging of Western, Protestant, and male comprehensions of...
Not Dead Yet: The Surviving Voice of Wooden Shipbuilding (2015)
In the Pacific Northwest there is still significant overlap between archaeological material and extant cultural niches. This overlap enables ethnography and living history to privide critical insight. For nautical archaeologists, the enigmatic details of early west coast ship construction may be explained by the handful of shipwrights who still work on the region's commercial wooden fishing fleet today. These tradesmen, however, are the last of their kind. The wooden fleet is dwindling and...
Not Just Fun and Games: Hacking Archaeology Education (2016)
21st-century communication technologies bridge previously unimaginable spatial, cultural, and ideological gaps, without providing young learners with the rational and emotional tools they need to participate in a global society. With its multicultural perspective on the human condition across time and space, historical archaeology is uniquely equipped to fill this void. But the current state of public education ensures that today’s youth are unlikely to get that opportunity, unless we bring it...
Not on an Even Keel: An Archeological Investigation and Interpretation of the Structural Remains of HMS Fowey (1748). (2015)
One of the primary objectives of the expanded archeological testing of the HMS Fowey shipwreck site was to gather the information necessary to define the extent of future stabilization efforts at the site. Given the substantial loss of archeological material since the site’s initial discovery in 1978, the evaluation and documentation of the surviving intact hull structure was paramount. In addition to providing a thorough documentation of the archeological remains of the surviving structural...
"Not so strange farmers": Rural displacement, colonial agriculture, and economic precariousness in Siin during the 20th century (2013)
This paper uses the results of long-term archaeological survey and oral histories to examine the intersection of rural migrations, colonial rule, and economic impoverishment in the Siin region of Senegal during the 20th century. The Siin is today the theater of acute rural anxiety, a ‘peasant malaise’ carved by the combined effects of ecological crises, declining land productivity, degrading life conditions, and state withdrawal over the past forty years. These worrisome circumstances, however,...
"a [not so] small, but [highly] convenient House of Brick": The St. Paul's Parsonage, Hollywood, South Carolina (2016)
Constructed in 1707, the foundational remains of the St. Paul’s Parish parsonage provide a rare opportunity to study an early colonial residence in South Carolina. Based on 2010 excavations, the parsonage was believed to be a traditional hall and parlor plan; however, recent excavations revealed that the parsonage likely had an enclosed projecting entrance tower. While this feature was common in mid-to-late-17th-century houses in England, Virginia, and other English colonies, they are very rare...
"…nothing else of great artifactual value" or "…found nothing on the site at all": What remains of an eighteenth century colonial shipwreck in Biscayne National Park? (2016)
The title of this paper illuminates the short sided approach held by those in search of "treasure" in the 1960s and 1970s in south Florida. It also provides a window into the past and present about how the Pillar Dollar Wreck in Biscayne National Park has been, and continues to be, impacted by adventure seekers, treasure salvors and looters. This paper outlines recent archaeological excavations of the Pillar Dollar Wreck and reveals there is still much to be found and studied in the shifting...
Notification Is Not Consultation: Ethical Practices in Community and Indigenous Archaeology (2016)
In the quarter of a century since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted, attempts to involve descendant Native communities in research on and interpretation of archaeological resources have been met with limited success. Blurred lines delineating ancestral lands and migration routes across modern state boundaries, historical political alliances, and dynamic cultural identities often cause confusion and a defeatist attitude in approaching and working with...
"A Novelist-Gardener": Masculinity and Illness in Progressive Era California (2016)
Warren Cheney (1858-1921) of Berkeley, California lived during the period in which ideals of Victorian manliness shifted to those of a more brutish masculinity. Suffering from ill health and neurasthenia for most of his life, he pursued an "outdoor life" while also participating in the Bay Area literary arts scene, embodying the tensions and contradictions of shifting gendered behavior ideals. Historical documents and archaeological excavations undertaken at the Cheney family home enable us to...
The NPS Search for Guerrero: Exploration and Partnerships (2018)
The search for Guerrero brings to life a powerful story of human greed, sacrifice, courage, and loss. The effort to locate this shipwreck is supported within the larger framework of the NPS’s five-year Civil Rights Initiative for advancing the management and interpretation of site andstories from within national parks associated with the civil rights movement, African American history, and the African American experience in the United States. It also represents the involvement of the National...
Nuestras Voces: Representation and Visibility of Latinx Women Archaeologists in the United States (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In recent years, there has been an increase in social justice movements, from Black Lives Matter to #metoo. As Maria Franklin and colleagues have stated, when these movements took center stage in our nation, they forced us to reflect on our very discipline and the inequalities present within, which in turn has led to several collaborations and research...
Nyugodjék Békében: Expressions of Identity Change in Sacred Heart Hungarian Cemetery, South Bend IN (2015)
Cemeteries and their associated grave markers have been repeatedly identified as a measure of cultural complexity and change in archaeology site studies. Cultural patterns can be revealed through the ritual materials of mourning and death to reflect notable behavior of the living, and these expressions can radically differ depending on social status and identity. The culmination of this Master’s thesis explores how one ethnic Hungarian group’s expression of identity changed over time by means of...
O is for Opium: Offering More than Education at the Abiel Smith School (2018)
The Abiel Smith, constructed between 1834 and 1835 in Beacon Hill in Boston, MA, is one of the oldest black schools in the United States. The Smith School is central to Beacon Hill’s Black history because it helped Black Bostonians advance in society and negotiate racism through education. However, the Smith School may have served another important role in the Black community. Medicinal bottles excavated from the site suggest that the school administered medicine to students. In the nineteenth...
The Oak Forest Institution-Cook County’s 20th Century Poor Farm (2018)
Built at the height of the Progressive Era on over 300 acres of land southwest of Chicago, the Oak Forest Institution or Poor Farm was to be an example for the rest of the nation. Buildings designed by the architectural firm of Holabard and Roche provided light, space and services for the poor, elderly and sick that reflected the era’s emphasis on fresh air, wholesome food, medical treatment (especially for tuberculosis) and relief from the vices and overcrowding of city living. Richly...
Object Entanglements in the Connecticut River Valley (2016)
We examine the material residues of 17th century Pocumtuck Indians to understand their long-term entanglements with others: kith and kin, ally and adversary, Native and non-Native. The Pocumtuck resided in New England’s middle Connecticut River Valley and were enmeshed in the Euro-Native exchange networks made possible by the river, its smaller tributaries, and well established trail networks linking Native and non-Native communities in all directions. We consider objects of copper alloy, stone,...
Objects and Voices: Conversations about artifacts, memory, and meaning with the former residents of Timbuctoo, NJ (2015)
Today’s historical archaeology places significant emphasis on the value and necessity of working with communities to create knowledge, and making that knowledge both useful and accessible to the public. Oral history has risen as a forefront method for this co-production of knowledge, allowing for voices beyond those of academics to be heard in the telling (and re-telling) of history. As historical archaeologists, we are just beginning to explore novel ways of incorporating oral history and the...
Objects past, objects present: materials, resistance and memory from the Le Morne Old Cemetery, Mauritius (2015)
The body of literature on slave artefacts and consumptive waste highlight the nuances and complexity of slave life-ways. Despite this, these represent small concessions traded against much greater losses, with the notion of ‘social death’ poignantly expressing a slave’s inevitable disconnect from ancestral practices. Allied to this, but fundamentally different, is the development of numerous syncretic belief systems that have their origins in a marriage between African and European faiths. Thus,...
Obligations and Opportunities of Old Collections, a Boston Perspective (2015)
The City of Boston Archaeology Laboratory contains nearly two-dozen archaeological assemblages totaling 2,000 boxes and well over 1,000,000 artifacts. The vast majority of these collections were excavated between 1975 and 1995, which poses a monumental challenge of re-cataloging, re-organizing, and re-analyzing collections that have defined the early history of Northeast historical archaeology. These collections also represent a great opportunity for students and researchers to examine...
Of Water and War: Examining the Intersection of Desalination Technologies and Military Strategy on Wake Atoll During World War II (2018)
Although desalination systems saw widespread use in maritime settings throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, mechanical improvements in the mid-1800s increased the utility of this technology for military purposes – specifically, the occupation and defense of otherwise uninhabitable lands. This paper examines the implementation and impacts of desalination technologies in one such location. Situated halfway between Hawaii and the Philippines, Wake Atoll is devoid of any natural source of...
Offers You Can’t Refuse: An Overview Of DPAA’s Strategic Partnerships Initiative (2017)
This presentation describes DPAA’s Strategic Partnerships program, which is a novel effort within DoD to leverage the resources and expertise of external sources. Partnership categories broadly include public-private partnerships (P3s), grants, cooperative agreements, voluntary arrangements, and even contracts. The intent is to expand or improve DPAA’s ability to account for the missing by selectively outsourcing some components of the overall workload. In addition, DPAA pursues initiatives that...
An Officer and a Gentleman? Telling the story of Captain Rábago and the Spanish Colonial Site of Presidio San Sabá through Archaeology and History (2013)
Presidio San Sabá, located in Menard County, is the largest Spanish Fort in Texas. Occupied from 1757 to 1770, the garrison was under the command of Captain Felipe Rábago for most of its existence. Prior to and during his command, the presidio underwent several changes that reflect the political and social environment of Spanish Colonial Texas during the late 18th century. Drawing from both archaeological investigations conducted by Texas Tech University and historical research, the story of...
Oh Captain, My Captain: Transforming the Practice of Archaeology (2018)
For many Native American community members, becoming an archaeologist can be a difficult choice. This is especially true if you have witnessed the wanton destruction of your sacred sites, the disrespectful treatment of your ancestors by archaeologists and have been taught by your family and community to see archaeologists solely as grave diggers. My review of the archaeological literature and interaction with archaeologists during the 1990’s only supported this perspective, bringing doubt to my...
"Oh Freedom Over Me:" Space, Agency, and Identity at Elam Baptist Church in Ruthville, Virginia (2015)
Founded in 1810, Elam Baptist Church was one of the first Virginian churches that free blacks controlled. The church's architectural layout cited that of local white churches, containing separate entrances for whites, free blacks and enslaved blacks. This paper discusses the ways in which the agency and identity of the local free black community emerged through the historically and spatially specific relationships in which Elam was enmeshed. The boundaries that the free black community created...
Oil and Shipwrecks: An Overview Of Sites Selected For The Deepwater Shipwrecks And Oil Spill Impacts Project (2015)
In 2013 and 2014, C & C Technologies, Inc. joined the multidisciplinary team studying the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deepwater shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. C&C’s primary objective is the archaeological analysis of the selected shipwreck sites for the project. The project shipwrecks include 19th Century wooden hull vessels and 20th Century metal-hull vessels, ranging in water depth from 470 to 4,890 feet below sea level . This paper will discuss the wreck selection...